Friday, 15 February 2013

Customer Service At It's Worst!

Nothing annoys me more than rude customer service and recently two well know companies have been culprits of this.
I worked in customer service for over 4 years before I had Maxwell and I can honestly say I always treated customers with respect, never did I fail to resolve a problems and I was always happy to help,

Recently I have had dealings with Debenhams and La Redoute.

Earlier this month I saw a great deal on Debenhams website and being a great deal I thought I would order it for a mothers day treat for my Mum next month. I got the confirmation email and money was taken out of my bank account, however to my surprise 2 days after making the order I was emailed, only to be told that my order will not be fulfilled. I rang customer services up and asked why was money taken out of my account yet my order would not be sent, I was told they were out of stock of the item I had ordered and that the money would be refunded however it could take up to 5 days.... 5 DAYS!! For a refund, for a item I never received.
A day later I went on to their website and to my surprise the item was back in stock, so I rang up. I explained the situation to the customer service representative on the phone and was told the item was back in stock, they then checked the product and I was then told it was a mistake as their website was playing up. I accepted this and got off the phone.
Two days later again I checked back on Debenhams website, just to see if the item was back in stock, of course it was. Again I rang them up, as a friend had made a order for the product, I asked them was there any in stock, they replied no.
I asked the customer service person I was speaking to, why they were taking money of customers knowing full well they were unable to fulfill the order and why were they happy to sit on peoples hard earned money for 5 days if they are not fulfilling a order, with this I was hung up on.
A few hours later my friend received a email telling her the product was out of stock.
In the end I have given up with Debenhams, I have rang up several amounts of times to sort the order out, I have contacted them on social media sites and have not had answers. I have had no words saying sorry and after taking my money and giving me a refund after 5 days of them sitting on it, I can safely say avoid at all costs. You just need to look on there social media site Facebook to see how many complaints they have off very unhappy customers.

I go on to La Redoute.
I found a great deal on a site to use on clothing for Maxwell. Maxwell needed some new PJ's and some new trousers so I happily made a order with them. I was a new customer and I wanted to see if they could live up to there great reputation I had heard of them.
When I saw the code I also told some of my friends about the great deal that La Redoute had to offer and they also happily placed a order for their children.
A hour after placing the order I received a confirmation email about my order.
A week went by, no order yet my friends had received there order. I rang up La Redoute and was told first of all they were unable to find my order. Finally after explaining the order I was rudely told as I had found the code off a site I was not entitled to my order. However I asked why my two friends had managed to get there's. I was told that "All customers with none processed orders will be informed by letter".
A week and a half on and I still have not got a letter, no apology, no explanation of why my little boy doesn't have new pj's or trousers.
They have my name, my address, my number and also my bank details, details such as my telephone number and address they could sell on.
After talking to my friends, they told me that they were new customers just like me, no different to me. So why am I different and not entitled to my order?

In conclusion, in this climate that we are in where huge company's are going into administration can these company's really afford to upset there customers. If im getting bad customer service are others experiencing this?
Is giving their customer information about a order they placed but never received to hard to do?
Is giveing a refund to a customers they happily took money off for a item that the customer never received to hard to do?

What bad experience's have you had with companies? Have they rectified the fault or even given you a simple apology? I would love to hear your experiences.

4 comments

A few month ago I had a major problem with a canvas printing company based in the Netherlands. I'd order a hude canvas of my two boys and becasue it was coming quite far I assmued it would take longer than usual to receive. 3 weeks passed. Nothing!I eventually just gave them a quick post on Facebook saying (subtly) that I couldn't wait to receive it to get a reply which basically said 'what you on about, you got it yesterday.' After eventually getting in contact by email and me angrily panicing that some randomers had a picture of my sons, I spoke to the CEO of the company. I expressed my disgust that they had lost my picture. Eventually 5 weeks later it turned up. They had delivered it to the wrong street and the people brought it round to us. I must admit though, it did have a happy outcome as the canvas printing company changed delivery couriers to a firm more capable of actually delivering items.

I hate bad customer service, its one thing that really irritates me.I had a bad experience with Browns Bar and Brasserie, I complained in Decemeber and after several emails they have now stopped replying to my emails, I have heard nothing for 8 weeks, emailed them the other day and nothing.But on the flip side I have had fantastic customer service from Fisher price UK (mattel) had a problem with Millie's Princess palace and they were so polite and sorted the problem out quickly. Very impressed

I've not had problems with La Redoute as such but I wasn't 100% happy with the quality of some of the clothes, but then they were so cheap I didn't feel like I could complain and also another thing, they email so often and the other day I got an email saying - sorry you didn't like what we sent you (I returned a couple of things that didn't fit me), here, have something half price - whatever you want (***as long as its not something that has already been reduced - which is most of their stock). But you don't find out that the thing you want doesn't qualify for this code until after you go to your basket and put the code in. Then you go looking for something else... I gave up in the end. Don't think I'm going to shop there again. Will just go to M&S or Sainsburies in future.